The present invention relates to thermic developing stations for recording material which is to be developed by means of heat of the kind, comprising a rotatable drum and a heating element which is adapted to fit the curvature of the drum surface, the recording material being fed between the drum and the heating element by the drum, wherein at the place of entry of the recording material into the heating zone, an unheated member is provided which is also adapted to fit the curvature of the surface of the drum.
In image recording, to an increasing extent recording material is used which is developed by applying heat. This has the advantage that there is no requirement for the semi-dry developing process needed with the customary photographic material. Thermic developing takes place in such a manner that the exposed recording material is transported, for example by means of an elastic drum, through a heat zone which can consist of a heated half-round surface. The surface is heated to the temperature which is characteristic for the material used, for example 120.degree. to 130.degree. for the presently commercially available dry silver paper. However, at this temperature the layer of emulsion on the paper becomes soft and sticky which causes the recording material to jam and the apparatus to fail. The apparatus becomes operational again only by removing the paper from the developing station or, if necessary, also from the printing station and the feed zone to the developer. Apart from the loss of paper and the downtime of the apparatus, in some applications an added factor is that the recorded image is irretrievably lost which is the case, for example, when images transmitted by radio or received from satellites are being recorded.